


The Tree I Climbed That Day

by exouju



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 18:17:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20783003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exouju/pseuds/exouju
Summary: A year ago, Kyungsoo would never have guessed the first person he would ever consider opening up to would be the kid in the abandoned yard he had been unwelcoming to for thirteen years. But for a few months now, they have been talking to each other about their problems. Mostly Jongin really, but Kyungsoo would sometimes let some bits of his troubled life escape his lips too, under the comforting shade of that familiar tree.





	1. Chapter 1

Jongin has never seen the boy cry, laugh, or even smile at all. He never even showed any kind of emotion when he once held a snake right in front of his face. That’s why, when he walks into the abandoned yard that day and finds the brunette kneeling on the ground, holding in sobs tightly with gritted teeth—he panics. He wants to run to him, ask him what’s wrong and maybe dry the boy’s big brown eyes with one or two of his stupid jokes that never work. Instead, Jongin walks to his favorite tree and sits under it, letting the shadow protect him from the sun that can only shine through its leaves. He has decided to wait, as always. Somehow, he knows Kyungsoo isn’t going to open up to him if he just asked, he knows he won’t be able to hear whatever is troubling the boy if he tries too hard to comfort him. They spend a few minutes like that, Jongin looking at him shaking and Kyungsoo failing to hold back his tears as his nose starts running too. When all seems to have calmed down and the boy’s body has stopped trembling, Jongin sighs, listening to the birds chirp as he wonders what he should do next.  
Should he speak up? Should he let the boy recompose himself and walk away without a word? None of that matters. Kyungsoo lets out an heart wrenching scream, letting his anger echo throughout the whole yard, startling the tanned boy. He sinks his fingers into the ground and picks up pieces of dirt just to throw them as far as possible, feeling the cold, humid soil gather under his nails. He keeps shouting as he throws the dirt around, tears welling from his eyes once again as the screaming quickly turns into loud weeping. When Jongin sees the boy bring his hands near his face to dry it, he stands up and darts towards him to grab his arms and stop him from filling his eyes with dirt. Kyungsoo finally looks at the other boy, light shock showing in his eyes as Jongin wipes the tears with his thumbs,

“You’re gonna get a heatstroke.”

The tanned boy jokes, expecting no reaction from the brunette who, instead, lets out a chuckle in front of him for the first time in thirteen years.

— —

A year ago, Kyungsoo would never have guessed the first person he would ever consider opening up to would be the kid in the abandoned yard he had been unwelcoming to for thirteen years. But for a few months now, they have been talking to each other about their problems. Mostly Jongin really, but Kyungsoo would sometimes let some bits of his troubled life escape his lips too, under the comforting shade of that familiar tree. 

Jongin talked to him for the first time, thirteen years ago, because of that tree.  
Kyungsoo was five and he had just moved in his new house with his new parents. He thought this family too wasn’t gonna last long, so for the first few months he never even bothered learning his older brother’s name. He knew it would have been easier to forget them once they brought him back to the orphanage if he couldn’t remember their names. Their parents told them to choose their rooms—each their own—and Kyungsoo had eyes only for the second floor’s room, the one with the big window on the roof facing the sky. His jaw dropped when he walked into that room. He fantasized about placing his bed right under that window so he could fall asleep looking at the starry night sky everyday. His brother, however, had other plans in mind. He had barged into the room and claimed it as his, paying no mind to Kyungsoo’s presence as he dropped his boxes onto the floor. 

Now, Kyungsoo wasn’t exactly the type to start fights, especially when he knew he wouldn’t have spent much time with the new family anyway, but his love for the stars got the better of him that day and the two kids got into an argument. After hearing the older boy’s blood curdling scream, the parents bolted upstairs into the small bedroom and gasped at the sight of Kyungsoo pressing his brother’s face against the wooden floor as he sat on the boy’s back. They pulled Kyungsoo off him immediately and threw him to the side with a glare the kid would never forget. He wanted to speak up, to explain his brother had started it by slapping him and pulling his hair, but he knew the two adults wouldn’t have understood. So he ran. He ran down the stairs and out the door, heading nowhere in particular. Only when his bare feet started to hurt from scraping against the concrete for too long, Kyungsoo finally stopped. He looked around, trying to find someplace to rest, somewhere to hide from the sun beaming upon his head. His eyes laid on the big tree to his left and he walked towards it without skipping a beat, panting as he tried to catch his breath after the long run.  
When he sat down and leaned against the tree trunk, he closed his eyes and sighed as his ears were filled by the sound of the birds singing. Soon after his breath adjusted, however, he caught a different, faint sound. Leaves being stepped on lightly. Kyungsoo’s skin crawled as he thought of the possibility of being sold, kidnapped, killed—

A small boy’s head peeked from one of the bushes in front of him. Kyungsoo flinched when the little stranger walked closer quickly with an angry frown on his face. 

“Who are you?”

The dark skinned kid asked, hands on his hips imitating what grownups looked like when they were about to scold their children.  
Kyungsoo didn’t answer. Instead, he stood up and turned around, placing his hands on the tree and readjusting their position a few times before starting to climb up.

“W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

The little stranger asked as he tried to pull the kid off the tree, afraid he might get hurt. But Kyungsoo kept crawling upwards, almost effortlessly, and the tanned kid could do nothing but stare in awe as the other reached one of the highest branches and stood on it.  
Kyungsoo looked through the leaves, trying to catch a glimpse of the sky as he thought about the room with the window and how he probably wouldn’t have been able to get it after what he had done. He sighed and dropped his gaze to the ground below him before squatting on the branch and scaring the other kid to death.

“W-WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?”

The tanned one yelled when he saw Kyungsoo wobble back and forth on the thin piece of wood. He let out a high pitched scream when the boy threw himself off the tree, eyes tightly shut, trying to avoid the sight of broken bones. 

“This tree used to look much bigger…”

Jongin says out of nowhere with a melancholic smirk, bringing Kyungsoo back to the present. The brunette turns towards him with parted lips, a bit shocked as he wonders how the dark skinned boy is able to read his mind.


	2. Astronaut

Jongin snorts at the boy’s confession. From the dramatic way he was crying just a few minutes earlier, the tanned boy assumed the worst, but all that’s troubling Kyungsoo is a little fight with his parents about which university he should attend.

“You don’t get it! I always wanted to be an astronomer, but they keep telling me it’s just a childish dream and that I should try to become a lawyer or a doctor instead!”

Kyungsoo’s eyes start getting misty once again as he thinks of all the times his parents have gone against his wishes to pursue a career in astronomy.

“No, I get it. But just because they don’t support your dream, it doesn’t mean you can’t give it a try!”

Jongin shrugs as he still doesn’t see it as a big deal; why would the parents’ opinion matter anyway?  
Kyungsoo quickly replies to his question although he hasn’t voiced it yet,

“How am I supposed to give it a try without their money? Who’s gonna pay for everything?”

The tanned boy’s eyebrows furrow at the question,

“Shouldn’t you be able to get a scholarship with your grades? I’m pretty sure i’ve heard that you’re one of the best students in your whole school…”

He’s pretty sure he’s heard his family and friends boast about the boy’s grades for years now, and the whole neighborhood has always expected great things from this short boy.

“Oh.”

It’s all Kyungsoo says with a lightly surprised expression.

“What?”

“I…I forgot that was a thing.”

“You forgot scholarships were a thing?!”

Jongin widens his eyes in disbelief; how can a boy who’s been studying hard his whole life just simply forget about scholarships,

“How?!”

It’s Kyungsoo’s turn to shrug, which makes the taller burst out in laughter, followed by the shorter right after. It’s their first proper conversation after years of quietly tiptoeing around each other’s presence, but they both can’t help but feel at ease around the other. 

Not much happened after that conversation; days went by without any interactions between the two and it seemed as if their friendship was doomed to fail before it was even able to blossom…at least until Jongin realized something as he sat under the usual tree.

“Wait!”

He shouts a bit too loudly, trying to get Kyungsoo’s attention as the latter reads a book a few feet away.  
The short boy looks up from the huge tome with a slightly annoyed face, but he still replies,

“What?”

Jongin rapidly stands up and walks over to the boy laying on the grass, kneeling down as soon as he gets close enough and laying down too right after.

“Does that mean you’re gonna move out?”

Kyungsoo has no idea what the boy is talking about, so he squints in confusion, indirectly asking for an explanation,

“You’re going to astronaut college or whatever, right?”

“Astronaut college?—Oh, you mean astronomy?”

Jongin nods, but Kyungsoo still doesn’t get the question,

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Are you going to move out once you go to college?”

Jongin’s tone is weirdly…cautious, that’s how Kyungsoo would describe it anyway. It’s almost as if he’s scared of asking the question, or maybe scared to hear the answer.

“No? the place i’m going to is pretty close, only a thirty minutes bus ride from here.”

The tanned boy’s lips break into a smile and Kyungsoo is pretty sure a relieved breath comes out of Jongin’s mouth as he gets up and walks back to his tree.


End file.
